Times
of India: New Delhi: Monday, 22 December 2014.
Medical
records of reimbursements of judges can't be disclosed under RTI Act since it
doesn't serve any public interest, the Delhi high court has held in an
important ruling.
Justice Vibhu
Bakhru on Friday set aside a CIC ruling asking the Supreme Court to maintain
details of medical reimbursement availed of by each Supreme Court judge in the
last three years to be furnished to information seekers.
The HC termed
the CIC ruling "erroneous" and said that "medical records are
not liable to be disclosed unless it is shown that the same is in larger public
interest. In the present case, the CIC has completely overlooked this aspect of
the matter."
In the
process the court allowed an appeal filed against the CIC order of 2012 where
the commission had directed it to disclose details of medical reimbursement of
judges in the last three years. Responding to RTI activist Subhash Chandra
Agrawal's plea, the Supreme Court had said it does not keep records of medical
reimbursement of individual judges and, declined to furnish him the information
under the transparency Act. When Agarwal appealed in CIC the latter in 2010
asked SC to make arrangements to maintain details of medical reimbursement made
to judges. They should, it had specified, be maintained in digital format so
that their retrieval and disclosure could be easier.
However, the
SC refused, citing a stay by Delhi HC in a similar case, prompting Agarwal to
once again approach CIC. In its second order in 2012, CIC directed the apex
court to place the order before the Secretary General of the Supreme Court so
that he can ensure its compliance.
It is against
this order that SC had moved HC in appeal. Justice Bakhru stressed that
"information relating to the medical records would be personal information
which is exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the Act. The medical
bills would indicate the treatment and/or medicines required by individuals and
this would clearly be an invasion of the privacy."
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